Hoist for conveying loads to moving platforms



Oct. 24, 1950 c. F. BRERETON 7 HOIST FOR CONVEYING LOADS T0 MOVING PLATFORMS Filed Sept. 3, 1947 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 24, 1950 c. F. BRERETON 2,526,347

HOIST FOR CONVEYING LOADS T0 movme PLATFORMS Filed Sept. 5, 1947 e Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 24, 1950 c. F. BRERETON 2,526,847

HOIST FOR CONVEYING LOADS TO MOVING PLATFORMS Filed Sept. 3, 1947 6 Sheets-Sheet s [N VEN701 Oct. 24, 1950 c. F. BRERETON HOIST FOR CONVEYING LOADS TO MOVING PLATFORMS Filed Sept. 3, 1947 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Has/v7:

Oct. 24, 1950 c. F. BRERETON 2,526,847

HOIST FOR CONVEYING LOADS TO MOVING PLATFORMS Filed Sept. 3, 1947 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Oct. 24, 1950 c, BRERETON 2,526,847

HOIST FOR CONVEYING LOADS T0 MOVING PLATFORMS Filed Sept. 3, 1947 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 FIG.9.

I VIM T916 Patented Oct. 24, 1950 HOIST FOR CONVEYING LOADS TOMOVING PLATFORMS Christopher Francis- Brereton, London, England,

assignor to Vickers-Armstrgongs Limited, London, England, at British company Application September 3, 1947, Ser iaIN 0,771,911) In Great Britain Aug ustzl 1946 Section 1, Public Law 690; August 8; 1946' Patent' expires August 19, 1966 Claims. 1

This invention relates to hoists for conveying loads to moving platforms, e. g. for use in conjunction with gun mountings of ships, in which the gun mountings are stabilised to take care of rolling of a ship when the gun is in the foreand-aft direction, or alternatively pitching when the gun is abeam. The object of the invention is to provide hoisting means which automatically takes care of changes in the effective distance between the loading point and the magazine or trunk of the ship and the trough or equivalent ammunition receiving means on the gun platform. However, the invention is equally applicable to other circumstances in which it is desirable to maintain a regular feed of articles to a platform in which the platform does not have a permanent parallel or fixed relationship with respect to a source of supply for the goods to be elevated.

According to this invention a hoist for the elevation of ammunition to a gun on a tilting platform or for analogous purposes, is characterised in that it embodies a load guiding structure pivotally supported at both ends and automatically adjustable in effective length to take care of lateral displacements of one end relatively to the other whilst remaining in predetermined positional relationship with charging means at one end and a discharging or unloading device at the other end, and has combined therewith means for transporting loads along it which adapts itself to said changes in effective length of the hoist.

In one form of the invention the hoist comprises a telescopic guide for the ammunition or other goods to be elevated, the upper and lower ends of such guide being articulated respectively to the gun platform or its equivalent and a fixed structure in the base of the trunk or its equivalent, said guide accommodating a pair of load carriers or cages adapted to be moved simultaneously in opposite direction along the. hoist guide and connected by flexible means to" apparatus for raising and lowering the cages along the guide.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect drawings are appended hereto illustratin embodiments thereof, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation showing the: invention applied to a single hoist for use in feeding rounds to a gun mounting on a ships deck,

Figure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1- but 2 itting the hydraulic mechanism for operat ing the" mist cages; 1

Figures 3, 4 and 5 are sections on the'lines II-I'-III, IV-I-V and V--V' respectively o-f Figure- 2,

Figure- 6 isa diagrammatic elevation view showing the manner in which the hoist changes its effective length for changesin position of the gun platform relatively to the ships deck or vice versa,

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic elevation View showing a twin arrangement of hoists,

Figure- 8- shows the parallel-link-like" action of the twin hoists to take care of variations in thetilt of the deck, and

Figure 9 is a detail broken sectionalfelevationto the scaleof Figures 3 to 5 showing how the guide-rails of the hoist permit telescoping of the hoist.

Referring to the drawings the hoist casing; is

of telescopic form and for this purposecomprises two rectangular tubes l and 2'slidabl'e one within theother and eachhaving a pair of opposed sides la and 2 a respectively converged from parallel relationship towards its distinctive ax is of articulation which, for the tubular element l' is" disposed ona support 3 inthe base 'of the ships magazine or trunk, and in the othencase' is disposed on a support-tfixed to the g'un platform 5 By providing telescopic sections l and 2" as,

aforesaid, the telescopic hoist accommodates it'- self readily to differences in effective length to take care of changes in the angular relation-" ship of the gun platform and the floor or the magazineroom 01' trunk. The saidsupports 3 and 4' are provided with arcuate guides 30a and 4a respectively, concentrically disposed in relation to the axis of articulation aforesaid and engaged by rollers on the tubular telescopic-sec tions of the hoist so as to ensure asmooth action over a predetermined working angle of movement. 7 I

The tubular hoist casing contains two ropeoperated cages 6 and I for the reception of the rounds of ammunition 8 to be handled, the ar of the guides is not interrupted upon the extension of the casing to the maximum tilting position of the gun platform. To provide for this relative sliding of the rails lb and 2b, the rails lb are fixed along the full height of the inner tubular element I and extend above the tubular element I freely into lower part of the tubular element 2, and the guide rails 2b are fixed along the interior of the tubular element 2 from the top downwards but as shown in Figure 9 in which for the sake of clearness only one guide rail Ib and one guide rail 21) are shown. Guide rails 21) are spaced from the appropriate walls of their tube 2 so as to enable the walls of the tube I carrying the rails Ib to slide between the lower parts of the rails 21) and the walls of the tube 2 so that for the required length of the lower end of the tube 2 the tube l is free to reciprocate relatively to the tube 2.

In their extreme positions the cages 6 and I are aligned, with troughs 9 and I respectively the axes of which intersect the longitudinal axis of the composite hoisting tube so that the rounds of ammunition can be loaded thereon or rammed therefrom into the gun breech II or into mechanism for transferring the round to the gun breech, The guide rails being disposed on the opposed walls of the hoist casing containing the parts Ia and 2a. aforesaid converge towards said troughs.

When the cage 6 is in the unloading position it abuts against a stop 6 at the upper end of the hoist casing. Likewise when the cage I is in the unloading position it abuts against a stop I also at the upper end of the casing, these two stops 6 and I being at opposite sides of the casing, and at the lower end of the casing a central stop I is provided for engagement by both cages to locate them in turn opposite the loading trough 9.

It will be evident in the event of the shi rolling and the gun platform being maintained horizontal by the known means, the effective distance between the upper pair of stops and the lower stops will be variable.

The cages are moved up and down the guide casing by rope divided into sections I22), I20 and I2cl which, in order to produce the effect of a single length of rope are connected to the cages as shown in Figure 1, the rope being operated by a pair of hydraulic ram devices, the cylinders of which are arranged in two blocks I3 and I4 opposite sides of, and just above, the upper ends of the hoist casing. Beneath the support for the lower end of the hoist casing is provided a horizontal axis hydraulic ram I5 one end of the cylinder carrying a sheave I6 and the outer end of the piston rod carrying another like sheave I1, and over these two sheaves is guided under tension, due to the constant hydraulic pressure within the cylinder, the rope section I2c anchored at one end to the base of the cage I and at the other end to the base of the cage 6, intermediate idler or jockey pulleys I8 being provided to maintain the parts of the ropes which pass into the lower ends of the hoist casing parallel.

The two blocks I3 and I4 aforesaid include a pair of hydraulic rams l3, I4 having their cylinders connected to a source of supply of hydraulic pressure fluid by a piston type valve I9 operated by a hand lever 20 or by any suitable remote control means, this valve operating to alternately connect the two cylinders to pressure and exhaust. The opposed ends of these two cylinders carry sheaves 2| over which are passed the two 4 rope sections I21) and I2d, each being connected at one end to the upper side of the appropriate cage and the other made fast to the appropriate cylinder after passing the rope over a sheave 22 at the outer end of the piston I3a (or I4a) of its appropriate cylinder. By this means if one of these two cylinders is connected to pressure its piston will be displaced away from the inner end of the cylinder so as to increase the effective length of the ram this resulting in the appropriate cage being drawn to the top of the telescopic casing.

The hydraulic cylinders I3, I4 of the upper pair of rams are provided with a pair of tensioning cylinders I31), I41) arranged parallel therewith and supplied with constant hydraulic pressure, their rams acting upon the cross heads I30, M0 at the outer ends of the piston rods thereby maintaining a constant tension on the upper portions of the two ropes.

The power of the hydraulic ram I5 disposed beneath the lower end of the telescopic casing exceeds that of either of the tensioning cylinders I3b, I4b associated with the upper pair of rams, whilst the power of the latter pair of rams exceeds the collective power of the two tensioning devices I31), I41) and the lower ram 15.

With the valve I9 set in one position, the appropriate upper ram cylinder l3 or I4 is supplied with hydraulic pressure and the other corinected to exhaust and this results in one of the cages being raised into contact with one of the upper pair of stops 6 or I, the other cage being lowered into contact with the lower sto I, this latter cage being maintained in contact with this lower stop I over the desired period by means of the lower hydraulic ram I5 irrespective of variations in the efiective length of the telescopic hoist casing. Upon reversing the valve the reverse operation takes place and the cages are moved past each other to reverse their position.

To ensure the cages being aligned with the trough into which the ammunition is rammed as a preliminary step to loading the gun, each cage is provided on its upper side with one free edge 6a, Ia parallel with the edge 61), 1b which receives the cable or rope each cage between the two edges being channelled as at 60, to semicylindrical or other suitable form to receive the round of ammunition. In this connection each cage can be of triangular cross section having a truncated base part 6d, Id adapted to abut against the lower stop I, rollers 6e, 7e being. carried by the outer side to travel along the guide rails, and a semi-circular channel section top being provided to receive the round of ammunition, the ropes passing over the upper rams being connected to the outer sides 62), 1b of these two cages.

It will of course be understood that when the invention is applied to a gun mounting provided with two guns a corresponding number of hoists will be employed, as shown in Figures 6 and 7, the hoists being supported in a parallel link fashion across the'gun platform and the base of the trunk or magazine room. When loose cartridges are employed each hoist can be duplicated, one being adapted to receive the shell and the other the cartridges, and suitable endless runways can be provided on the base of the trunk for feeding the cartridges into the loading end of the hoist.

I claim:

1. A hoist for the raising and lowering of loads for use Where the upper and lower ends of the hoist are displaceable one relative to the other so as to change the effective length of the hoist, comprising a composite telescope hoisting shell having upper and lower sections, hoist supports to which said sections are articulated, guides extending along the composite shell, two load carriers slidably guided along said guides and simultaneously occupying positions at opposite ends of the shell, means to load and unload said carrier at the axes of articulation of said upper and lower sections to said supports, means self-compensating for changes in eiTective length of the hoist distinctive to each carrier to drive said carriers simultaneously in opposite directions along the shell, and terminal stops for the carriers at opposite ends of the shell arresting the drive of the carriers at loading and unloading points.

2. A hoist according to claim 1 wherein the said guides are disposed in two opposed sets and function for distinctive carriers, and follow opposed parallel paths along the median part of the hoist but at their upper and lower ends converge towards the axes of articulation of the hoist.

3. A hoist for the raising and lowering of loads for use where the upper and lower ends of the hoist are displaceable laterally one relative to the other, comprising a telescopic hoist structure consisting of two interengaging tubular sections slidable one within the other, guide rails carried by both sections, a pair of load carriers guided up and down the guide rails in directions opposed to each other, supports to which the upper end of the upper section and the lower end of the lower section are articulated, stops at the upper and lower ends of the telescopic structure adapted to be engaged by and to stop the carriers adjacent the axes of articulation of the hoist to said supports, a pair of power units, a pair of cables connected to the pair of carriers and to the pair of power units, the power units being adapted to be operated alternately to draw the carriers or cages along the guide rails, a further cable anchored at its ends to the cages and carried over guides loaded by means to tension the latter mentioned cable to tension such cable in yielding opposition to the tractive' load applied alternately to the aforesaid pair of cables, and means applying constant tension to said latter pair of cables.

4. A hoist according to claim 3, wherein the hoist sections have inter-engaging rectangular parts with two opposed walls converging to the upper and lower ends of the hoist, and the said guiderails are carried by said opposed walls and follow a path delineated by the said walls.

5. A hoist according to claim 3 wherein said pair of power units comprises two main hydraulic rams with a guide on one end of each cylinder and a guide on the outer end of each piston thereof for the appropriate cable, each cable being made fast at one end with respect to its associated ram,'and each ram havin combined there- V with an auxiliary ram adapted to maintain the associated cable under tension, and a valve adapted to be actuated to alternately connect the main rams to pressure.

CHRISTOPHER FRANCIS BRERETON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 256,244 Roberts Apr. 11, 1882 317,791 Howell May 12, 1885 434,082 Hart Aug. 12, 1890 704,985 Trochain July 15, 1902 893,620 Gardner July 21, 1908 903,324 Schneider n Nov. 10, 1908 1,090,093 Bartholdy Mar. 10, 1914 2,390,302 Hendricksen Dec. 4,1945

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 506,714 Germany Sept. 8, 1930 

